Intermittence

I ordered some “CONN SOCKET SIP 40POS TIN” from my favorite electronics supplier, thinking that they were exactly what I needed to get over my fear of soldering components directly to perfboard. I would, I figured, determine where various bits and pieces fit onto the board, solder the sockets into place, make the appropriate connections, and then plug in the bits and pieces, thereby ensuring that I could remove them if anything went awry and a component failed. (One thing I’ve already learned is that desoldering is a pain in the butt, and particularly so if the component you’re trying to remove has thirty or so pins….)

To make a long story short, these are not the sockets I was looking for.

These are fantastic sockets. They’re sleek, connect with each other firmly and with conviction, and are low-profile. The holes, however, are not large enough to accept a standard rectangular .100”-spaced male header pin. So, I’m now at an impasse. My one local electronics supplier (I’m not counting Radio Shack, though I checked there as well) doesn’t carry the female headers I need, and neither does Fry’s. Digikey does, but I’d have to spend $25 to avoid a $5 handling charge, and I can’t help but think that it’s a little silly to spend as much to ship something as the object itself costs.

So…no robot yet. I have everything I strictly need, but until I have a surplus of cash I’m going to stick to my guns and resist soldering expensive electronics directly to the circuit board. Maybe I’ll find a supplier in San Antonio…

Quickly:

• Allergy treatments are going well. I totally skipped my traditional mid-Spring sinus infection (which is usually brought on by a surplus of…well, let’s just say that allergies contribute to the incubation of a sinus infection, shall we?).
• Robotics dabbling is not going so well. I can’t bring myself to solder a bunch of relatively expensive components together, and I seem to be unable to place an order for the sockets that would ease my fears. Also, I’m paralyzed by my inability to formalize plans for my first real ‘bot. The solution, of course, is just to do it and see what happens. Once I get sockets, I’ll do this. An order will be placed today. Maybe.
• Donnell is attending her Teacher-of-the-Year luncheon today, and I’m heading over to her school in a bit to send her off. I’m so proud of her!

That is all.

...One robot at a time.

The first is a horribly ugly little creature who hasn’t yet been named. He’s cobbled together from Lego bricks (from a Mindstorms set that I bought years ago and never used), a couple of battery packs, a bunch of rubber bands, and various electronic bits.

This week, I hope to give him an eye (a Sharp infrared ranger unit, actually), and figure out how to make him use it to avoid striking objects while navigating the house. I suspect it’ll be a little tricky.

Pictures soon.

Well, not really, but it’s getting closer. I mean, the mall is already decorated. Santa was entertaining children at the local grocery store. Donnell’s been humming carols. And…I’ve made the decoration (singular) for my office. Behold!

It’s half of a paper clip, cradling a large button-cell battery and soldered directly to an AVR ATtiny13V microcontroller (which I programmed myself), a 330-ohm resistor, and a red LED. When operating, it flashes ‘Merry Christmas’ in Morse Code. I’m really proud of this—perhaps too much so—and am considering writing up an Instructable for it.

Yay, nerds! Read the rest of this entry »

My expedition into the realm of electronics has taken an interesting turn.

I’ve somehow procured quite a bit more equipment (including, but certainly not limited to: a Weller soldering station, an AVR programmer—assembled by yours truly, a small circuit board vise, and an SOIC test clip), and am working on an entirely new project: a jar of fireflies. Last night saw me attaching a bunch of tiny surface-mount components to a circuit board (I think a visual inspection just uncovered an incomplete solder joint—I’ll have to repair that), and once a spool of 38-gauge magnet wire shows up in the mail I’ll be soldering up some LEDs that measure about the size of the ‘E’ on a dime.

I’ll post video once I get it working. Wish me (and my eyes) luck! Read the rest of this entry »